Abstract
“Neuromarketing” is a term generally referring to the use of neurotechnologies—primarily brain imaging—to directly access brain response to marketing stimuli. For example, one famous study examined how a consumer’s brain reflects their preference for Coke or Pepsi. The assumption of neuromarketing is that directly observing a brain response is in some degree truer, purer, and more unsullied than watching behavior. Behavior can defy preference. For example, I can buy Pepsi even though I prefer Coke, and there are other kinds of mitigating factors that can subvert my preferences—for example, they may not have Coke, Coke may be more expensive, and so on. The hope is that neuromarketing can ferret out someone’s “true” preferences, and allow marketers to understand, at a “deeper” level, what consumers truly prefer.